Fest update: Tokens debut, volunteer BG scheduler needed

 

Last updated 7/28/2017 at 10:55am



Preparations for Fest have begun in earnest over the past couple of weeks. The Chamber’s marketing committee has printed posters and smaller heavy-paper cards to hand out to interested visitors and to send with Miss Odessa and her princess as they ride the Odessa community float in various celebrations throughout the area.

Several groups and organizations which have chalets in the Fest Platz have been seen downtown sprucing up their facilities with new paint and added decorations.

The members of Christ Lutheran Church, which makes apple strudel for Deutschesfest, is thus far the only group to have given The Record its schedule for making the strudel. Meeting in their social hall, the church members and other friends and volunteers will make the sweet treats September 5, 6 and 7 (Tuesday through Thursday) from 8:30 a.m. to about 5 p.m. every day. Anyone wishing to volunteer to help is asked to call Charlene Kagele at 982-2825 or Laura Estes at 982-2908.

Work has been progressing on an updated and refreshed version of the Deutschesfest website. Once a few more details and specific times for this year’s events are nailed down, the site will go live.

Calling all volunteers

Are you bored? Has retirement turned out to be less than exciting for you? Are you looking for friendship, a way to give back to your community, a way to get involved in local activities?

As the entire town of Odessa pulls together to put on Deutschesfest, the call goes out to folks who are looking for a way to help. Those in charge of various aspects of the festival are as follows:

Fun Run: Jamie Nelson, 509-254-1443.

Parade: Washington Federal bank, 509-982-2624.

Finney Field parking: Chris Luiten, 509-982-2111.

Street Fair vendors: Terri King, 509-988-0430.

Biergarten: Tammy Smith, chair; Lindsy Starkel, vice-chair.

Yard sale map: Clarene Haynie, 509-988-0074.

Horseshoe Exhibition: Kathy Ratkowski, 509-982-2269.

An important position is in need of a new leader. Sandy Libsack has long been in charge of contacting people to volunteer as servers in the Biergarten during Fest. She is willing to do so again this year, as long as she can also use the time to train someone new to take over the responsibility. Someone needs to step up and take it on.

Chamber of Commerce

At the most recent meeting of the Odessa Chamber of Commerce, president Zach Schafer told the group that the board of directors and Biergarten chairs have agreed to move to a token system for payments within the Biergarten. This may mean standing in two different lines to obtain an entry bracelet and to exchange cash for tokens, but the benefits were thought to outweigh any negatives.

Given the Chamber’s current financial standing, the board also felt justified in asking Odessa businesses and vendors to share in some of the costs associated with Fest, such as the port-a-potties from which visitors and locals alike benefit, and marketing efforts, which bring in the crowds that make Fest successful. Some businesses have made annual donations as a matter of course, but requests for sharing of the costs will now be more formalized.

Newly elected to the Chamber’s board of directors was member at large Joy Walter, replacing Jennifer Martin who has moved to Virginia.

More information on Fest activities will be provided next week as it becomes available.

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 

Our Family of Publications Includes:

Cheney Free Press
Ritzville Adams County Journal
Whitman County Gazette
Odessa Record
Franklin Connection
Davenport Times
Spokane Valley News Herald
Colfax Daily Bulletin

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024

Rendered 03/27/2024 13:01